Recycling of aluminum cans (sometimes referred to as UBC (Used Beverage Cans) is reported to be a most important aspect of the consumer waste stream. It is common to collect empty, commonly “used”, metal cans for recycling of the metal of the cans by converting the cans to their metallic identify. Whereas many locations may be employed to collect a relatively small volume of cans at each of such locations, at some phase of the recycling program, for economic and other reasons, these small quantities of cans are brought together, crushed and pressed together in a baler. Within this baler a relatively large quantity of cans are crushed (e.g. compacted) into individual bales (commonly rectangular in geometry) of crushed cans. Heretofore such bales were bound about their girth by one or more wire binders designed to preclude collapse of the bales. These bales are shipped by truck, railcar or sea container to smelting facilities. After analysis of the cans, the wire binders are removed from the bale and the bales are fed into a shredder where they are broken up into small pieces and processed through a smelter furnace.
Compression of the cans into a bale, commonly of a rectangular geometry provides a cost effective and otherwise efficient mode of transferring a collection of cans to a smelting facility. A major problem encountered in baling of metal cans relates to the binding of the bales as they are formed so that the bales retain their integrity when the bales are expelled from the baler, transported direct to a smelting facility or placed in temporary storage. During such time period the bales are subjected to lifting and transfer using lift forks or like equipment. As noted, heretofore, it has been common to wrap each bale at spaced apart locations along the length of each bale, with metal wire binders (bailing wire) which serve to keep the bale from coming apart during handling, transit or other activities. Such wire remains on the bales until the bales are ready to be introduced into a shredder at a processing center, e.g. a smelter). First, wire when wrapped about the firth of a bale of cans only apply containment pressure against those crushed cans of the bale which are proximate the wires, leaving the portion of the bale outside the holding influence of the wires free to expand and potentially cause collapse of the bale. Second, these wires tend to break or their ends separate, leaving the bales free of the restraint afforded by the wires such that the bales involuntarily dissipate. Third, the loose wires can become entangled with any of many objects, such as the framework of warehouse shelving, or within the processing equipment. In any such event, the cost of processing of the cans is increased due to the loss of time for completion of the overall processing of the cans. Especially of importance of downtime of the processing equipment during which loose wires are untangled from the processing equipment. Fourth, even if the wire binders remain intact, they must be removed before the bale can be introduced into the smelter. Collection and disposal of these wire binders is a further disadvantage with respect to cost of the recycling operation and even safety of workers which remove the wire binders.